For 16 years, this graduate of École Polytechnique has acquired broad experience within the Operations department. Her expertise, especially in purchasing, made her a natural choice in 2017 to head a key cross-cutting corporate unit at LVMH.
“I’m interested in being where products are created, where quality and efficiency really make a difference. And right from the start I have always loved the management dimension of my work. After graduating from École Polytechnique, I took an engineering job in production in the consumer goods division of a major cosmetics company. I then wanted to work in a less centralized organization where people have more direct responsibilities, and this led me to LVMH. For five years I worked on developing long-term operational solutions, first in France, as a Production Manager at Guerlain, where I reorganized the packaging workshops at the fragrances production site, and then in Italy, as Supply Chain Director at Sephora. There I optimized our supply and product delivery channels. In both positions I learned very useful technical and managerial skills. I was still missing commercial expertise to round out my professional development.
Purchasing offers great career advancement opportunities in this regard, both because it is such a cross-cutting function and also because it has strong strategic and business dimensions, particularly in managing relations with suppliers. In 2011 I was named Purchasing Director for Guerlain. For nearly six years I developed our purchasing department, integrating all purchasing categories and cascading processes and best practices shared by other LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics Maisons. Internally I worked with the product development, quality, production, logistics, marketing, finance and other departments. Externally I developed close relations with suppliers around the world to establish long-term mutual commitments with broad sharing of competencies, going well beyond simply negotiating prices. I consider establishing this multidimensional approach as my greatest success. Our suppliers have an intimate knowledge of their markets. They make a significant contribution to the added value of our creations and it’s essential to sustain this ecosystem. This is the objective of purchasing teams, and also what makes this work so interesting, because it bridges so many different areas and you’re able to develop skills that span technical aspects, building relationships and commercial expertise. All these skills are essential for the great majority of the high-level positions within the Group.
My current position as LVMH Production and Supply Chain Director clearly demonstrates this. I use the reflexes I acquired thanks to my purchasing experience every day, whether it’s about organizational issues or transformation and optimization projects, always with a focus on achieving excellence, constantly innovating and having an entrepreneurial mindset.”